An integrative account of consciousness should have a number of properties. It should build upon a framework of nonconscious behavior in order to explain how and why consciousness contributes to, and addresses the limitations of, nonconscious processes. It should also encompass the primary (phenomenal), secondary (access), and tertiary (self-awareness) aspects of consciousness. A number of accounts have proposed a role for consciousness in the prediction of sensory input, yet these proposals do not address how organisms deal with multiple, unpredictable, disturbances to maintain control. According to perceptual control theory (PCT), purposiveness is the control of hierarchically organized perceptual variables via changes in output that counteract disturbances which would otherwise increase error between the current value and the reference value (goal state) of each perceptual variable. In PCT, reorganization is the process required for the adaptive modification of control systems in order to reduce the error in intrinsic systems that control essential, largely physiological, variables. The current article proposes that primary consciousness emerges from this system, and is sustained as secondary consciousness through a number of processes including the control of the integration rate of novel information via exploratory behavior, attention, imagination, and altering the mutation rate of reorganization. Tertiary consciousness arises when internally sustained perceptual information is associated with specific symbols that form a parallel, propositional system for the use of language, logic, and other symbolic systems. The hypotheses and initial research designs to test this account are provided.

中文翻译：

---

关于意识的综合控制理论视角。

对意识的综合描述应该具有许多属性。它应该建立在无意识行为的框架之上，以解释意识如何以及为什么有助于无意识过程并解决无意识过程的局限性。它还应该包括意识的初级（现象）、次级（访问）和第三级（自我意识）方面。许多帐户提出了意识在预测感觉输入中的作用，但这些提议并未解决有机体如何处理多重、不可预测的干扰以维持控制。根据知觉控制理论（PCT），目的性是通过改变输出来控制分层组织的感知变量，以抵消干扰，否则会增加每个感知变量的当前值和参考值（目标状态）之间的误差。在 PCT 中，重组是对控制系统进行适应性修改所需的过程，以减少控制基本变量（主要是生理变量）的内在系统中的错误。目前的文章提出，初级意识是从这个系统中产生的，并通过一系列过程作为次级意识来维持，包括通过探索行为、注意力、想象力来控制新信息的整合率，以及改变重组的突变率。当内部持续的感知信息与特定符号相关联时，第三意识就会出现，这些特定符号形成一个平行的命题系统，用于语言、逻辑和其他符号系统的使用。提供了测试该帐户的假设和初步研究设计。